The documentary is produced by ARTE France and James Mitchell Soho Moon Pictures on board in Ireland. It explores the life and times of the beloved Johannes Vermeer and will screen across the country this Summer.
This run of screenings coincides with the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry at the National Gallery of Ireland, from Saturday, June 17th in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Jean-Pierre Cottet directs the feature, which not only examines Vermeer’s paintings but the role of women, his conversion to Catholicism, and the intricacies of the Dutch Golden Age, right up until his sad and sudden death in 1675.
He died overwhelmed by poverty and the paintings were sold to cover his debts, causing the memory of the artist to disappear for almost two hundred years.
Dr Adriaan Waiboer, National Gallery of Ireland, Head of Collections and Research:
“Johannes Vermeer is frequently portrayed as an enigmatic figure working largely in isolation, but this exhibition clearly demonstrates how Vermeer’s subjects, compositions and figure types owe much to works by contemporary Dutch artists, including Gerrit Dou, Gerard ter Borch and Frans van Mieris, all of whom were more successful and influential in their time.”
‘Vermeer, Beyond Time’ is distributed in Ireland by Eclipse Pictures.